LION'S LEGACY
48. The Golden Wedding
That morning, it was finally time for Torra and Aden's wedding. The entire family prepared for the event, dressing in their nicest clothes before heading to the newly-built Sept.
Annalys stood in one of the front rows with Ser Edric while Eddard and the rest of her children were in another aisle across from them. All but Olyvar, who was on his way to the Wall and little Edric, who stayed at the Red Keep due to being far too young to understand what was going on.
Annalys smiled softly, turning and watching as Torra was escorted up the aisle by Robb, who was to give her away since he was her adoptive father. Torra turned, exchanging a smile with Lyanna and Eddard before turning to look back at Aden.
Robb shot Aden a warning glare before taking his spot next to Annalys, which caused both Torra and Annalys to smile in amusement.
Torra locked arms with Aden before walking up the steps. Aden removed his cloak, placing it on Torra's shoulders. They smiled, staring at each other lovingly as the Septon began to speak up.
After they turned to face the High Septon, the man tied their hands together with a small ribbon. "In the sight of the Seven, I hereby seal these two souls as one, binding them for eternity. Look upon each other and say the words."
Torra and Aden smiled, wasting no time turning to face one another as they began to say the words.
"Father, Smith, Warrior. Mother, Maiden, Crone. Stranger." They spoke in unison and they continued their vows, Robb and Annalys turned to each other.
They smiled at each other, lovingly. Robb purposely made his fingers brush against his wife's. Annalys playfully rolled her eyes, knowing what he was asking to do. She moved her hand toward his, the two of them intertwining fingers as they held each other's hand.
Despite cherishing the moment between her and Robb, and the fact that her eldest daughter was getting married, she froze for a moment, her face becoming pale as she felt an odd sensation in her gut.
She closed her eyes, hoping if she took a deep breath, it would go away. As she tried to inhale deeply, she ended up wincing, feeling a pain in her side. She let go of Robb's hand, causing the Stark man to frown as he watched her place it over her ribs. He knew right away she was in pain, but why?
"Were we a little too rough earlier?" Robb jokingly asked his wife in a whisper, hoping it would make her family.
Instead, Annalys turned to Robb, her expression consumed with horror, "Something's wrong, Robb," She whispered to her husband softly, beginning to feel uneasy, "And I don't think it has to do with me, I think it's Rhaegal. Something's wrong with Rhaegal."
Robb immediately frowned, not understanding how it could be possible that Annalys could be feeling Rhaegal's pain.
Even if she was, why the hell would Rhaegal be in pain. He was in the dragonpits, a place no one would dare go due to being scared of being burnt to a crisp by the green dragon.
"Nothing's wrong with Rhaegal," Robb argued, shaking his head in disapproval, "He is fine. He was fed right before the wedding. I'm sure he's still enjoying his meal as we speak."
Little did Robb know, Rhaegal was far from being fine. Across the city, in the dragonpits, Rhaegal roared loudly as numerous spears were thrown at him by a large army of soldiers. He tried to fight them off, but it was pretty hard to do while so many of them were coming after him.
Annalys was right. She was, indeed, feeling his pain. And if she hadn't believed Robb when he said everything was fine, perhaps what came next wouldn't have happened.
Back in the Sept, Annalys continued to feel pain in her side. He had no idea what was going on with her. And since he had no idea how to help, he switched her from standing to his right in order to stand at his left. With that, he wrapped his left arm around her, beginning to soothingly rub her pained area.
Despite believing her husband's touch would make it feel better. It didn't. It honestly felt like someone was digging their fingers into a stab wound.
At that moment, as Torra kissed Aden and everyone began to clap, Annalys seemed to be the only one to hear the sound of a blade being unsheathed over everything.
Annalys slowly turned her head left to check on her children. She hadn't expected to see what she did. Her eyes widened in alarm, witnessing as an unknown man unsheathed his blade as he stood behind Eddard, who was oblivious to what was going on.
"No!" She screamed out at the top of her lungs, gaining everyone's attention as they immediately stopped clapping.
It was as if everything was going by slow around them. Lyanna and Eddard turned to their mother, frowning in confusion when they heard her scream. They were completely oblivious to what was going on behind them.
However, without them noticing, an unknown assassin grabbed ahold of Eddard, stabbing him in the lower back. Eddard yelled out, wasting no attempting to fight off the man.
At the same time, unknown people from afar shot crossbow bolts all directed at different members of the royal family. One nearly hit Joanna before Torrhen roughly pushed her forward. She stumbled to the ground and the crossbow ended up hitting Torrhen instead. At the same time, one came toward Torra and Aden ended up stepping in front of her, leading to the crossbow hitting him instead as well.
Both at once, Robb and Annalys were hit in the shoulders with crossbows and flashbacks of the Red Wedding ran through both of their minds at once, causing them to freeze in motion, unable to move for a few short moments.
Many people in the Sept screamed, beginning to run for their lives as another assassin was revealed to be behind Lyanna. He grabbed Lyanna's shoulder with one hand while using the other to place a dagger to her neck.
He ended up creating a small cut on her neck that was no more than an inch long before Lyanna headbutted him in the face and elbowed him in the gut. Despite causing him to fall backward, Lyanna herself fell forward, heading straight to the ground.
Annalys continued to yell out for Lyanna and Eddard, despite being injured herself. She and Robb attempted to rush toward their children. However, before they could, they were grabbed by members of the Queensguard and pulled away from the chaos and bloodshed, shielding them from any more assassin attempts. Sadly, it also stopped them from risking their lives to save their children, which pained them most of all.
Their children were on the verge of being killed and they couldn't do anything to help them.
Lyanna continued to hear her father's shouts and her mother's hysterical and heartbroken screams as they pleaded with the knights to allow them to help their children, but still, they were not let go.
It wasn't their fault, though. Their job was to protect the Queen and King and despite it breaking their hearts, if Robb and Annalys were to fight off the men to protect their children, they'd most likely die as well and they couldn't let that happen.
Joanna screamed in fear, attempting to rush toward Lyanna and Eddard to help them, despite being unarmed. Before she could get far, Rickard and Torrhen, who was injured, grabbed ahold of her. "We can't help them. We have to go. Now." Rickard demanded, but Joanna continued to try and fight against them.
"No, wait!" She shouted out, attempting to fight against their grip on her, "No! Wait! Lyanna, Eddard!"
Purposely, Rickard pushed himself, Torrhen, and Joanna into the crowds fleeing out of the Sept, which made sure they couldn't fight against the crowds to help their siblings and it also made sure they were hidden from anyone trying to kill them.
If it hadn't been for Rickard making that decision, they would have most likely been killed at that very moment by the person who might have claimed to be on their side, but truly wasn't. Aden and Torra would be the first ones to piece it together and figure out who that person was.
Torra had just screamed out after watching as Aden was shot with a crossbow the moment he shielded her with his body. He seemed as though he was fine, despite the crossbow bolt in his chest, which caused her to turn her attention to Eddard.
She was on the verge of helping him, only to stop when Aden grabbed onto her, refusing to let her go. "No, no! We have to help them!" She pleaded, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Right now, I need to help you get the hell out of here," Aden whispered to Torra and just as she was about to give him a betrayed look, she noticed him gesturing toward something behind her.
Torra slowly turned her head, noticing that while the remainder of the Queensguard rushed to escort their King and Queen out, Loras Tyrell remained in place, exchanging a nod with Lyanna's attempted assassin.
Where he stood, Loras glanced around, attempting to look for the princes and princess Joanna. He found Torrhen, Rickard, and Joanna nowhere in sight and when he turned again, Torra and Aden had disappeared from their spots as well.
Who had escorted the younger children out if all the Queensguard were escorting Annalys and Robb out? What he seemed to fail to realize was that those children weren't your normal kinds of royal children. They weren't raised to be helpless around threats when there was no one around. They were raised to know how to be resourceful in difficult situations and to have the ability to defend themselves on their own.
Even Joanna knew how to do so, despite not knowing the half on how to use a sword like the rest of her siblings.
Nearby, Lyanna cried out as she clutched her bleeding neck. She looked ahead to see Eddard attempting to fight off three men at once, unarmed, while everyone else seemed to be running out of the Sept.
One of the assassins lifted up the hand they used to hold their dagger, preparing to stab him. Eddard grabbed onto that wrist, using all the strength he had to pry the dagger from the man's hand and use it to stab the man trying to kill him.
Lyanna watched in horror as her brother, despite fighting off one of the men, was still stabbed two more times by other men. The Lannister woman rose from her feet, but was unable to fight back while unarmed.
Eddard turned, forcing himself to remain standing as he locked eyes on Lyanna. Knowing he was far too weak to fight on his own while also knowing his sister was a far better fighter than him and had the ability to escape while he didn't, he used all the strength to limp over to his twin.
He extended out the hand he was using to grasp the dagger he stole from one of his attempted assassins.
Lyanna pushed her hand outward as well, grabbing ahold of the knife. Eddard smiled sadly at Lyanna, as if he knew what was on the verge of happening.
Just then, an unknown man came up behind Eddard, wrapping his left arm around the prince before stabbing him the stomach.
"No! Eddard!" She screamed out, rushing toward her brother as he fell straight toward the ground, "Ned!"
Just then, two men lunged torward her and Lyanna jumped out of the way before stabbing one of them in the neck. Blood spilled onto her as she pulled the dagger out of the man's throat before turning toward the next man and killing him as well. A third man came toward her and before they could even attempt to kill her, her dagger went through his eye and out the back of his skull.
Meanwhile, outside the Sept, the streets were filled with chaos and many people ran for their lives. Unluckily for them, Joanna, Torrhen, and Rickard were separated the moment they exited the new Sept of Baelor.
Joanna ran for her life all by herself. She soon was surrounded by soldiers who were clearly members of the rebels and wanted her head on a spike.
She cried out, glancing around to find herself surrounded by these men. Having no other way to escape, Joanna ran through an alley with the soldiers chasing after her.
She entered an unknown establishment, the men laughing as they chased after her. One of the men grabbed onto her sleeves, about to take ahold of her. Joanna whipped herself around, punching the man in the face with all the strength she had.
She wasn't skilled in fighting with weapons like her siblings were, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to defend herself.
He stumbled back, taking a moment to recover from the hit before he punched her back. Joanna cried out in pain, her entire body whipping around before she fell face-first into the ground.
One of the men bent down, clawing at her ankles as she attempted to crawl away, crying and pleading for them to let her go.
"Where are you going, little girl?" He laughed, pulling her toward him by the leg.
She kicked him in the face without realizing it, causing him to fall backward while another tried to grab ahold of her.
One of the men grabbed her by the arm, attempting to climb onto her from the back as he began to pull the skirt of her dress upwards. "Have you ever been fucked, Princess?" He questioned her as he grabbed her by the leg and flipped over so that she was laying on her back.
Each of the soldiers began to either rip at her dress or hold her arms down. She cried, pleading for them to stop as she tried to fight back.
The man who stood in between Joanna's legs, unbuckling his pants was suddenly stabbed through the neck from the back, causing Joanna to gasp in horror.
The man fell to the ground, dead, and Joanna looked forward to find that it had been Torra who had saved her from being raped.
Two other men turned to Torra, on the verge of killing her. They ended up meeting the same fate as their friend, one with a slit throat and the other stabbed through the chest with the girl's sword. The last two were cowards and attempted to flee, only to end up dead well.
Joanna cried, sitting up from her lying position, her once elegant dress was now ripped open and covered in dirt and her twin brother's blood.
"You always did suck at defending yourself," Torra admitted softly, a saddened look on her face as she held her hand out to Joanna.
Joanna cautiously took her sister's hand, allowing her to help her up. Torra turned to Joanna, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I have a plan to get you out of here, but you mustn't tell anyone about it, not even our siblings. Can you do that?"
Joanna held back her tears, nodding her head in response. Torra leaned toward Joanna, beginning to whisper in the girl's ear. Her plan would save all of them, but it meant each of them would believe they were the only survivor of what had occurred that day. That wedding would be named the Golden Wedding in the coming months, not for any reason but the fact that people believed it to be the day that marked the end of all Lannister. The Golden Lions.
___
Rickard ran as fast as he could through the streets of Flea Bottom. Soon enough, he came face to face with a few unknown soldiers. "They're paying a lot of money to every man who brings the head of a prince or a princess to them. Which one are you?" The man questioned, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at Rickard.
"Your worst nightmare if you don't get the fuck out of my way," Rickard growled at the man angrily, only to get a loud laugh from each man instead of fear.
However, despite that, Rickard smirked, knowing what was yet to occur. The men's smiles faded, having the feeling they were missing something when Rickard smiled sadistically instead of pleading for his life.
As if on cue, the group of men heard a low growl behind. The men tensed up, slowly turning their heads to come face to face with Dash, Rickard's direwolf, who was now full-grown and one of the largest of his sibling's wolves.
Just then, Grey Wind, the largest of all the direwolves, appeared next to him, alongside Dusk, Freyja, Dawn, and Lann.
"Seven hells..." The man trailed off uneasily and before he could say anymore, the six direwolves lunged at the group of rebels while Rickard ran for his life, smirking in satisfaction when he heard their screams as they were torn to pieces by the vicious direwolves.
He didn't get far, however, before he was knocked unconscious after being hit in the hit head by someone unknown to him. And despite how he was taken to his safety, the person who saved him was, indeed, a person loyal to his family and not the rebels. Well, loyal to Annalys, at least, not that she'd ever think that due to how the man always claimed to dislike her. But he was friend to the Lannister family, to say the least. One that would protect and make sure he didn't go completely mad after what had occurred that day. The day believed to be the one that resulted in him being the only survivor of his entire family.
____
Inside the Sept, Eddard's body laid on the bed, presumably dead. Lyanna stood in place, clutching the dagger in her hand as four men surrounded her as they held dagger of their own.
They attempted to swing and slash at her, but she was able to dodge each of them while also clutching her bleeding next with her left hand. It wasn't a large enough cut to kill her, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.
One of the men lunged at her with his knife. She arched her back, allowing her to dodge the attack before slashing him across the chest and then the throat.
With that, he fell to his knees, clutching his neck as he began to choke up blood. Two of the other men attempted to attack her, but as her mother always said, she was quicker than most, which made her the superior fighter since she had the ability to dodge people's attacks easier.
One of the men lunged at her, but she side-stepped. She grabbed him by the arm and made it so that he killed one of the other attempted assassins instead of her. While still holding onto the man's arm, she used the hand to she held her dagger in to stab him in the throat.
With no other men left trying to kill her, Lyanna took one last look at her twin brother's body before running out of the Sept.
_____
In an unknown place in the capital, many guards surrounded Torra as her head was submerged into a tub of water by one of the men. She had been caught, just after putting Aden and Torrhen on a horse and sending them on their way North, with Lann and Freyja accompanying them.
She tried to fight back against the man attempting to drown her, but she was unable to do so with how large the man was. Not to mention, she was unarmed and severely beaten. She had hidden that savage part of herself that always showed when she lived as a member of the Free Folk. Now, when she needed it the most, she felt as though she didn't have the ability to be that person anymore.
Finally, he grabbed her by the neck, pulling her back above the water. She gasped for breath and then coughed up some water.
"Where are the princes and the princess?" The man growled at Torra in a threatening tone, knowing for a fact that she had hidden Torrhen and Joanna, and most likely did the same with Rickard.
They all assumed Eddard had been killed while Lyanna had been most likely been captured by then and despite Joanna being considered a threat, the rebels had other plans for her, which required them to find her.
However, what they planned could only happen if her brothers were dead due to them being older than her. Well, all except Rickard, but he would still be considered a threat if he were the last living son of Annalys and Robb.
There was also Olyvar, but by the time he would learn of what had happened in King's Landing, he would have taken the black, which meant whatever claim he had would be deemed invalid.
And somehow, despite having no clue that her family was going to be overthrown, Torra was able to make a plan to save each of her siblings in time.
Well, the younger ones at least. Eddard was presumed dead and Lyanna hadn't been seen since what happened in the Sept. However, since fleeing her wedding, Torra was able to make sure Rickard, Torrhen, and Joanna were brought to safety, all in different places so that no one would figure out where they were.
She also made sure that she was the only one who knew of their whereabouts and also that they were with people no one would have expected, especially Rickard and Joanna. Their whereabouts wouldn't be figured out by anyone for several years. She didn't tell a soul where any of them were. Well, all but Ser Edric, who had helped her plan it all, but she wouldn't tell anyone that.
Annalys and Robb would most likely be dead soon enough, which left Torra and Edric as the only ones truly capable of ensuring the safety of the princes and the princess.
"Tell us or she dies," The man threatened, causing Torra to turn her head to see one of the other men holding a knife to Lyanna's throat as she struggled against his grip.
She thought Lyanna was dead.
"No," Torra managed to get out, shaking her head as she pleaded for them to let Lyanna go.
Despite it sounding selfish, Lyanna was the one who meant the most to her in her family. She had been the first of the children she was able to bond with the day she arrived at Winterfell all those years ago.
And despite not being true siblings, Lyanna and Torra had a bond stronger than blood, stronger than the bonds they had with the rest of the children. They were sisters, no matter what people said. They were each other's best friend.
Somehow, the men must have knew that. It was the only reason they wouldn't have instantly killed Lyanna after finding her. Why else would they have spared Lyanna long enough to bring her to Torra?
They knew threatening Lyanna's life in front of Torra would have had an impact on the girl large enough to convince her to tell them the truth.
With Aden nowhere in sight, Lyanna was Torra's only weakness.
"Tell us where Princess Joanna and the Princes are and we'll let her go," The man threatened and Torra wanted nothing more than to scoff.
Lyanna would never be spared. If Annalys died, Lyanna was the heir to Casterly Rock and the Iron Throne.
"Torra," Lyanna cried out, causing Torra to slowly look toward her younger sister.
Lyanna remained silent, nodding her head in encouragement. The men began to smile in satisfaction, believing that the nod Lyanna gave Torra was to convince her to tell them where their brothers and their sister were.
However, that nod wasn't encouraging Torra to tell the truth, it was quite the opposite. She was encouraging her sister to kill them all.
Torra remained silent, turning to look back at the man who was gripping onto her drenched and knotted hair with one hand while using her other hand to hold a knife close to her throat.
Torra closed her eyes briefly, as if she were allowing something in. She was. She was allowing apart of her to come out, a part of her that she kept contained for so long after becoming a woman of the south.
She was allowing the wildling and savage part of herself to appear.
With seconds, Torra jerked her head forward, savagely biting into the man's arm without hesitation, a way so similar to a wolf biting into its prey. She was, indeed, the wild wolf, as they enjoyed calling her in the South.
The man yelled out, letting go of his grip on her as Torra spit out the chunk of his flesh she had bitten off.
She backhanded him across the face at full force with her balled-up fist before she grabbed ahold of his dagger. With a single swipe, she slit his throat before tossing it in Lyanna's direction.
Lyanna flinched, the dagger gliding right past her at full speed before finding its way into the throat of the man holding a knife to her throat.
Another man came toward Torra, balling his hands into a fist. Before he could swing at her, Torra punched him in the face. Two other men came toward her from both sides, each of them on the verge of swinging a sword at her.
Torra didn't seem uneasy, despite on the verge of fighting against two armed men while she had no weapon. One of them swung at her and Torra side-stepped. She grabbed ahold of the arm he was using to hold his sword. While holding his arm, she pushed him forward, causing the man's sword to stab into the other man coming toward her.
With that, she grabbed the injured man's sword, using it to stab the next man and two others.
Three more men came toward her and Torra ducked and dodged each of their forms of attacks before cutting each of their throats, one by one.
A few feet away, Lyanna watched as two men began to approach Torra from the back with her unable to see them. Lyanna lifted up two swords on the ground, sneaking up from behind the men before stabbing them in the back.
Torra turned toward Lyanna, panting for breath. "Run," She demanded in a stern tone, causing Lyanna to give her a puzzled look.
"What? No! I'm not leaving you!" Lyanna argued, shaking her head desperately, "You're the only one left. Everyone else is dead."
Torra felt guilty that Lyanna didn't know her other siblings were alive, but she also knew it was a risk to even tell Lyanna. If Lyanna thought she was the only Lannister-Stark child left, she'd make it her duty to survive and trust no one but herself. And despite that sounding like a horrific life to live, Torra knew it was the only way for the girl to survive on her own.
She had to be ruthless, selfish, and trust no one but herself. To make that happen, she needed to think her entire family was killed and she was alone in the world with no purpose but to take what was rightfully hers. The Iron Throne. And that was exactly what would happen.
She'd ball up all of the anger she felt regarding losing her entire family and it would help her survive life on her own.
"I said, run!" Torra shouted at Lyanna angrily, giving her a small push, which caused the girl to stumble back, "Everyone is dead. We're the last ones alive. You must leave and head to Casterly Rock, stay in hiding until the Usurpers have taken the throne. And when it's time, call your banners and give these bastards what they deserve."
"How will I know when it's time?" Lyanna found herself asking Torra, a concerned look on her face.
"You'll just know," Torra vaguely replied, placing a hand on Lyanna's shoulder, "You must survive this, Lyanna. Promise me you'll do whatever it takes to survive."
"I promise," Lyanna whispered softly as her eyes began to fill with tears. She gave Torra a deeply saddened look before turning and running in the direction of Flea Bottom as fast as she could, holding a bloody dagger in her hand.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
We might as well name Torra the savior of Annalys and Robb's children at this point 🤷🏻♀️ she has singlehandedly saved Lyanna, Torrhen, Joanna, and Rickard's lives. None of them would have ended up surviving if it hadn't been for her.
You'll see what has become of Robb and Annalys in the next chapter!